Office Life

We could write a tv comedy series here – but nobody would believe

On Monday the dustmen were going to come out on strike again due to non payment of wages but they didn’t need to bother, the filling station has stopped supplying the Council with petrol due to unpaid bills. Staff all got letters forecasting a power cut all day Wednesday but we were all to come to work as usual. Tuesday we had no electricity and with no windows in my room, no computer, no printer and no candles I went to work at home. Wednesday we had power and a Council meeting (the third one this year) – 9.30 png time but 11.15 by my clock. The initial prayers again had no effect on the subsequent shouting and swearing and the previous minutes had been lost or stolen so could not be confirmed. A senior officer from the Province was scheduled to attend and advise on the mayor’s eligibility to chair the meeting given the current investigation into an alleged forgery on his part but had sent apologies and a verbal go-ahead. A posse was sent to find the chap if only to get something in writing but to no avail. Half an hour later the meeting resumed and before I realised so I missed item number one - a letter from the Government querying (at the very least) why we were paying councillors their legal monthly allowance every fortnight (it had been slipped into the annual budget a couple of years ago and nobody had noticed - till now). A long discussion about the previous Town manager who has been living in his Council house and paying no rent since losing his job over two years ago. Resolved to give him 24 hours notice to move out and to charge him for the missing rent. The meeting then adjourned for a week for the clerk to serve the notice.

Some bright spark, after a night’s drinking I guess has decided that the 100+ large trees flanking the sole road into the town must be felled urgently to allow a 4-lane motorway to be built. This will be so much more impressive than simply repairing the potholes which is all that is needed. So, with our grasscutters having no petrol we have put them onto plotting and counting the trees so we can see what work is involved and then we will paint big crosses on each tree to see if we can raise some public interest !

Yabab village with Sem, a retired maths teacher from Iran Jaya (Indonesia)

Birthday Party time at the Lodge

Trees (doomed?) in Modilon Road

Summer Holiday

Need a holiday – where should I go? Somewhere sunny and warm, by the ocean and with views of a smoking volcano – yes, could be Madang but maybe different, lets say Kokopo in East New Britain. I also had a free return airticket from the new airline’s launch event in Madang to use. Stayed in the central Maclam hotel, no views and shabby compared to its sister beachfront resort but which was 15 minutes walk away and considerably more expensive.

The trip was delayed a week while the deputy town manager tried to get money out of the treasury for us both to go on Council business (and because he had relatives there to visit) but that week the treasury were not issuing any cheques while doing some audit so I was happily on my own.

Kokopo did not dissapoint and I was able to walk into the local government offices and chat to staff. The recent central market development and adjoining bus layby was very attractive and imaginative in design with timber used for construction and cladding, toilets, kaikai bars, first aid post etc, paving throughout and well drained and all with ramped disabled access. Not having a surrounding fence added to its friendly character

On the parks and open spaces front, apart from the attention given to maintenance the use of palm trees and attractive concrete seating were noted

A visit was made to Rabaul around the bay from where most of Kokopo’s residents came following the 1994 volcanic eruption. That half of the town which had been submerged below the volcanic dust was deserted apart from 3 hotels and under the grey skies of that day looked depressing and reminiscent of Chernobyl (not that I’ve ever been there), nevertheless worth the visit.

Walking in Kokopo I felt completely safe though on just one occasion I was warned not to go on my own to a particular vantage point but my informant was happy to take me there to get my photograph. On another occasion a teenage girl approached me, wanting to practice her English but unlike Madang that is what she wanted to do, and to help me find good sites for photographs.

On leaving my hotel, the Bank’s electronic system was down and the staff were happy to just take my telephone number and ask me to pay the outstanding amount into the Hotel’s account when I got back to Madang.

Rabaul residents

The Market

View from Kokopo